1. Field
This invention relates to a bird feeder. More particularly, it relates to a feeder for avian living quarters such as cages. Live birds are commonly kept in cages in homes, pet shops and veterinary medicine facilities. Such cages typically are elevated from the floor and have a bed which comprises a tray for collecting detritus such as waste feed materials and excrement. Alternatively, the bed may be a screen through which waste materials pass to a droppings tray below. Typically, several layers of newspaper are placed on the tray to keep it relatively clean. Frequent cleaning of the droppings tray by replacing the newspaper, is an unpleasant task, but is necessary to maintain a clean, sanitary and generally oder-free environment for the bird and the bird-keeper.
One well-known problem associated with the keeping of live birds is the scattering of seed, seed husks and other materials outside of the feeding area. Such materials discarded by the bird may be scattered for six feet or more from the cage, and necessitate frequent cleaning of the surrounding floor area. In order to maintain a clean floor area, the bird or birds must be prevented from tossing and scattering feed materials outside of the feeding area.
Birds tend to defecate while feeding, creating an accumulation of droppings immediately below the feeding perch. The proximity of these droppings to the feed tray often results in contamination of the feed.
Another common occurrence is the dropping of bird excrement from above onto the feed tray and perch, contaminating and wetting the feed and feeding area.
2. State of the Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,904 of Krueger proposed a solution the cleaning problem. In that publication, a generally enclosed feeder is disclosed which has a bottom tray for collecting waste materials, and preventing their passage into the droppings tray of the bird cage. The apparatus has a major disadvantage in that its use results in two trays, instead of merely one, which must be removed and cleaned. The added burden of removing and cleaning an additional tray, and the extra time consumed in so doing, are serious disadvantages of the Krueger disclosure.
Another shortcoming of the Krueger patent results from its structure which permits bird excrement to accumulate within the feeding apparatus and increase the potential for feed contamination.